Chapter 23

23

Looking at the handsome... no, young... no, child’s face in front of me, I blinked my wide eyes several times.

"Muu...?"

The words I was about to ask, "Who is it?" slipped away into the netherworld.

I became aware of reality from the cooing voice.

Gradually, the despair of my situation surfaced.

‘Did I keep sucking on this all night?’

The pacifier fell to the side.

I got up, wiped the saliva on the baby’s bed, and put it back in my mouth.

Glancing at Sharent Clown’s son, it seemed he hadn’t noticed what I had done.

Looking down, I saw a small hand, as tiny as a pebble.

Turning my head, Sharent Clown’s son smiled widely. Seeing his innocent face, my head drooped involuntarily.

"The baby is a heavy sleeper. Let’s eat!"

"......"

"Ah, you don’t know this? Mama! Baby, do you know Mama?"

He pretended to eat and then made a sucking motion.

What’s he going to suck? A bottle, of course.

‘How can I get rid of this uncomfortable and unpleasant pacifier?’

Maybe I should just ask Sharent Clown outright.

No, if he has any intention of raising the child healthily, he should change the pacifier, not the food.

‘This dirty thing...’

I lowered my head with a dazed look, but my eyes widened when I felt a churning sensation inside my body.

I could feel a small cocoon forming near my heart in my small body.

‘...Dark magic power.’

It was a very familiar sensation.

This cocoon, filled with magic power, would grow and become a magic heart to store magic power.

I had just taken the first step in creating this magic heart.

‘I’m dead!’

My eyes snapped open as I slowly sensed the magic power.

The Baroness Sullivan or someone like that was definitely dead. Her soul had come to the host and I had absorbed it as magic power.

‘No wonder my body feels so heavy.’

My body was too young and small, causing a reaction.

Moreover, at the point where I had just created the cocoon to gather magic power, absorbing the soul of a woman full of resentment would cause a significant overload.

It would probably take at least a week for the magic power to be fully absorbed.

Using magic power improperly before it was fully absorbed could lead to a major magic explosion.

So, for a while, I would really be a baby. I wouldn’t be able to open a doorknob and would be trapped in the baby’s crib.

Thinking about this made me feel depressed.

‘It’s already painful.’

The thought of being forcibly confined in a normal state made my whole body tingle.

Another problem was that this magic itself was a form of black magic used to cast curses.

Curses always come with a price. Normally, I would have paid with magic power, but I’m broke now.

The backlash from not being able to properly absorb the magic power and the price of the black magic had hit my body simultaneously.

The damp and hot feeling in my body was probably due to these two issues overlapping.

I thought I would be quite sick until the magic power stabilized.

Lifting my small hand to my forehead...

‘My... forehead...’

As I tilted my hand, my body leaned to one side like a seesaw.

My fingertips trembled.

‘My hand...’

It’s still so short.

Giving up, I just placed it on my cheek.

It felt warm, or maybe my cheek was warm...

The sensation was strange, so I blinked.

I looked at the child of Sharent Clown, who was smiling brightly.

‘I have to go now.’

Come to think of it, it’s already morning.

The bed is so soft, not because I couldn’t resist sleep. And babies are said to be weak to temptation.

Bera didn’t come to look for me, which was fortunate.

‘I had a bit of hope that she cared for me a little.’

I shook my head at my own thoughts.

‘What hope?’

No matter whether she cared for me or not, I would survive on my own.

Stiffening my face, I grabbed the bedsheet and slid down to the floor.

‘The carpet isn’t painful.’

It would be nice if they put one in my room too.

Of course, there’s a difference between a cherished child and one who isn’t.

What can I expect from the Clown family?

I sighed and carefully placed my feet on the floor.

‘I need to practice walking steadily.’

It would make moving around a bit easier.

As I wobbled toward the door, Sharent Clown’s son opened it and smiled widely.

"Let’s go eat with Brother and Mama."

"Shii!"

No, no! I don’t want to!

"Let’s go!"

Again, this brat picked me up and started moving as he wished.

‘He’s getting a taste for this?’

Feeling ridiculous, I relaxed my body, and he started walking more comfortably.

Damn, I need to practice saying no before I become even more miserable.

"Shii..."

Why can’t I pronounce these two words?

I’m out of breath, out of breath. One word, "no," leaves me out of breath. I’m not used to speaking.

I tilted my head back with the pacifier in my mouth.

‘Wow, two skies...’

I must be in really bad shape.

As I thought this, my vision blurred. I didn’t understand why babies cry when they’re in pain, but maybe it’s because they’re scared.

"Kai Shan?"

Who is it?

Turning my gaze toward the voice, something black was approaching.

It looked completely black and was incredibly large.

A mountain?

I blinked, and the blurry black mass bent one knee and came close to my nose.

‘Wow, the mountain got bigger.’

But why is it such an unlucky mountain?

I reached out and grabbed the black thing, pulling it hard.

Thud.

‘Did I pull out a weed?’

I looked at the weed from the mountain in my hand and laughed.

"Ah!"

A scream came from somewhere.

An old man’s voice. I pouted in disgust.

"Uuung?"

Ah, something’s wrong with my vision.

There are two mountains.

I felt dizzy.

I plopped down on the floor, grabbed the pacifier with both hands, and sucked hard.

‘I don’t think I’m sucking less, so why do I feel so stupid?’

Something cool, like an ice pack, touched my forehead.

‘Wow, it’s cool.’

The ice pack seemed to stroke my forehead before moving away.

"You have a fever."

"Uu..."

‘This voice, it’s the unlucky Sharent Clown.’

Sharent Clown took away the ice pack.

I’m so frustrated. I knew he was a bad guy, but does he have to take even the ice pack?

Annoyed, I flailed my arms and legs in the direction where I couldn’t hear the voice.

I tried hard to crawl away from Sharent Clown’s voice.

Where should I go?

The path keeps splitting and looking strange.

"Miss!"

Oh, it’s Bera.

I stopped crawling and turned around.

Someone was approaching me. It was a black mountain earlier, but now it’s a gray mountain. The gray mountain reached out to me.

I squinted to make my blurry vision clearer.

I thought it might be Bera, but it wasn’t.

Realizing this, I quickly crawled backward.

The approaching gray mountain froze.

Where is Bera? Strange things keep coming toward me.

"Jee!"

Bera!

"Naah!"

I called Bera’s name.

I’m not sure if I said it properly.

Not being able to suck the pacifier properly made me feel very uncomfortable about being a child.

I need to sleep in a place where I can feel safe.

‘Am I still sucking on it?’

I tapped my mouth with my palm, and the pacifier was still in my mouth.

But why do I feel so dazed and numb?

"Miss!"

Turning my head toward the voice that suddenly erupted, Bera finally hugged me.

At least in the Klein Dukedom, this embrace was a place where I could close my eyes in peace.

‘Bera doesn’t seem to have the courage to kill me...’

That was my last memory.